After five years of fighting along side American troops in Iraq, Australian soldiers will no longer be involved in the seemingly endless war. Australia committed troops to the war in Iraq five years ago and was one of the first countries to join the U.S in Iraq. Now the new prime minister Kevin Rudd has made good on his promise to have all of Australia’s 550 troops home by mid 2008.

This comes on the tail end of growing hostility around the world about the war in Iraq. Even former supporters are finding that they just don’t see an end point in sight and the goals of the offensive have been blurred. Every since the premise of the war has been rebuked it has been hard to keep up the initial rhetoric of the Iraq war. Without weapons of mass destruction being in the picture the reasons are few and far in-between. Many of the countries that joined forces with the United States are getting backlash from their citizens. No one wants to be a target for hostility and any country involved in the Iraq war is bound to be on someone’s least favorites list.

As time stretches on and the solutions of the Iraq war become less and less clear, there are more governments that have to pull their troops out. The reduction of troops by one country will require that more troops from another country be sent over. That is why things like stop-loss(the reassignment of troops that have already finished their tour of duty) are becoming more prevalent.

The pullout of troops in Iraq has been a good selling point for several different politicians. Countries that have troops in Iraq have seen representatives that promise to bring troops home being very successful. The interesting point about politicians that use the pullout of troops as a campaign promise are actually doing it. Kevin Rudd was elected in November and he has already made good on his promise to get troops out of Australia. The quick turn around shows that even though politicians are known for using issues as campaign strategies and not following through, having troops in Iraq is one of those things that politicians and everyday citizens both have strong views about.

Over the next few months a new president will be elected in the United States. If a democrat is elected, the offensive in Iraq may be in danger. However, since the United States was the country that began the offensive, it will be very difficult for them to pull troops out of the country. What type of future does Iraq have with or without the United States troops fighting a war that has no clearly defined lines? Now that the U.S. has interrupted the flow of things in Iraq, is pulling out troops realistic? It is hard to say at this point but if a candidate is elected that has promised to bring troops home, citizens of the U.S. will expect to see that happen.